Mysore: Keeping up the hiring momentum, the country's second largest software exporter Infosys on Tuesday said it will hire about 12,000 people this quarter.

The company currently has over 1.33 lakh employees. "We are looking at a gross addition of about 12,000 in our workforce and we are continuing with yearly target at45,000 people," Infosys CEO and Managing Director S Gopalakrishnan said on Tuesday.

With the improving business sentiment and revival in IT spends, IT firms are stepping up hiring to meet demand for their services.

At the beginning of the current financial year, Infosys had announced plans to hire about 45,000 people. Of this, about 26,000 offers have already been made in college campuses.

The company on Tuesday posted a 15.72 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,722 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2011.

During the first quarter, Infosys and its subsidiaries saw over 7,000 employees leaving.

While the company and its subsidiaries hired 9, 9 22 employees (gross), the net addition stood at 2,740 for the reported quarter.

The company also gave a wage hike in the said quarter, which impacted margins to some extent.

"In April, we said the margins in Q1 could come down by around four percentage points and actually it came down by three percentage points. The main impact was on account of anincrease in offshore wages by 10-12 per cent and onsite by 2-3 per cent," Infosys Member of the Board and Chief Operating Officer S D Shibulal said.

"I think we were able to control other costs; we were able to maintain our margins. The only impact which came in the Q1 is wage increases," he added.